Who Am I--How Did I Choose My Identity: Our Human Values, #2

By Dr. Bob O'Connor

This volume explores how we, and others, develop our identities--our self-concepts. People develop their identities in various ways--sometimes thinking them through, sometimes accepting our ideas from authority _like parents or preachers--, sometimes using verifiable evidence, and sometimes from our mental illnesses. To understand how we think and how to solve the world's problems. While Volume I dealt with exploring the basic assumptions or how and why we think, this volume adds the reality of how we think about ourselves and how others think. The next volume will discuss a number of national and international problems and questions. The discussion of these problems cannot be thoroughly understood without understanding the various assumptions and identities of the participants of a discussion. Did your evidence come from QAnon, the Pope, or a scientist who is an authority on the subject? To think clearly, one must understand the most basic levels of human thinking. It's convenient to believe whatever sounds simple or popular with your friends. It's intelligent to base your thinking on the most verifiable facts. Should we really think--or just fake it?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Total Health Publications
• Release date: Oct 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201974572

Dr. Bob O'Connor

   Dr. O'Connor is a native of Los Angeles--having grown up in the "ghetto" of South-Central LA. His parents had eighth grade educations. His father died when the author was eight years old. This forced the family onto the welfare rolls while his mother went to school to learn clerical skills.    Dr. O'Connor's university education was at UCLA where he earned a BS and Master's degree and did two years of doctoral level work. He then changed his major and his university, gaining his doctorate at the University of Southern California--in philosophical and social foundations of education.    His interest in travel led to living and teaching in New Zealand, India, Canada and the Netherlands, culminating in a twenty year residence in Norway.    His experience in various cultures has prompted many of the ideas and questions he presents in the book.

Book preview

OUR HUMAN VALUES

Volume 2

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WHO AM I? HOW DID I CHOOSE MY IDENTITY?

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Dr. Bob O’Connor

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Total Health Publications

2021

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A PREFACE—WHERE AND WHY THIS VOLUME?

SECTION I  DEVELOPING OUR IDENTITIES

CHAPTER 1  NATURE AND NURTURE

NATURE

NURTURE

Your identity, like your mind, has conscious and unconscious aspects

CHAPTER 2  WE ALL HAVE IDENTITIES—WHAT IS THEIR VALUE?

FATHOMING OUR FAITH AND FACTS—OUR IDENTITIES AND BELIEFS

SECTION II.  UNDERSTANDING IDENTITIES

CHAPTER 3  IF WE DON’T KNOW EVERYTHING—WE DON’T KNOW ANYTHING!

SOME PEOPLE THINK THEY KNOW EVERYTHING

HAVE THE LAWMAKERS READ AND UNDERSTOOD THEIR SCRIPTURES AND THE QUESTIONS SURROUNDING THEM?

WHOSE LAND IS IT ANYWAY?

CHAPTER  4  OUR IDENTITIES—HOW WE CHOOSE AND USE VALUES AND EVIDENCE

PATHOLOGICAL IDENTITIES

NARCISISM—A PSYCHOLOGIAL INFLATION OF ONE’S IDENTITY

OUR IDENTITIES AS A SOURCE OF OUR VALUES

THE CAPITOL INVADERS

MEGHAN AND HARRY

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

2020/2021 DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS

LOVE AND POWER IN FORMING IDENTITIES

CHAPTER  5 VALIDATING IDENTITIES—HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW?

WE OFTEN ACCEPT EVIDENCE, TRUE OR FALSE, IF IT REINFORCES OUR IDENTITY

DONALD TRUMP BECAME A MASTER IDENTITY CREATOR

LYING AND NEGATIVE PROPAGANDA

FAKE NEWS

COMPETING VALUES—EVALUATING THE EVIDENCE

HOW DO WE MAKE THE COUNTRY MORE INTELLIGENT IN CHOOSING VALUES AND EVIDENCE?

The Constitution AND FREE SPEECH—DO COURT DECISIONS FIT YOUR IDENTITY?

THE GUARANTEES OF THE PREAMBLE

OUR IDENTITIES AND OUR VALUES

DONALD TRUMP CREATED IDENITIES IN MANY PEOPLE

THE FAILURE OF TRUMP’S ECONOMIC PROMISES.

NO MATTER WHO LENT OR WHY IT WAS BORROWED—AMERICAN DEBT IS REAL!

THE PRO-TRUMP IDENTITIES

TAXES AND THE NATIONAL DEBT—DO YOU CARE?

ARE OUR TAXES FAIR—OR ADEQUATE?

WHAT ABOUT IDENTITIES?

TO REINFORCE OUR IDENTITIES, WE PURSUE ANY IDEA THAT VALIDATES THEM!

SECTION  III  LOGIC—AND LIVING AS RATIONAL HUMANS

CHAPTER  6  THINKING EFFECTIVELY BY ANALYING THE EVIDENCE

HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW?

ARE WE TEACHING OUR STUDENTS TO RECOGNIZE FAKE NEWS?

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

STARTING A SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY

HISTORICAL EVIDENCE

SCIENCE AND DEMOCRACY ARE SIAMESE TWINS

ACCEPTING OUR KNOWLEDGE FROM AUTHORITY

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

FAITH

REASON

BUT WE ARE PSYCHOLOGICAL BEINGS

THE PROCESS OF REASONING

SEMANTICS

INDUCTIVE LOGIC

TALK ABOUT UNINFORMED VOTERS

INDUCTIVE FALLACIES SEEN IN VALUES IN RECENT ELECTIONS

CONFLICTS IN VALUES

SECTION IV  DO WE WANT IDENTITIES SELECTED INTELLIGENTLY?

CHAPTER  7  IF YOU DON’T KNOW EVERYTHING—YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING

CHAPTER  8  VALUES OR ETHICS ARE NOT SET IN STONE—ALTHOUGH MOSES AND THE POPE WOULD LIKE THEM TO BE

MORAL RELATIVISM AND APPLIED ETHICS

SELF VERSUS SOCIETY

VALUE QUESTIONS

CHAPTER 9  ADJUSTING TO—OR CREATING YOUR OWN IDENTITY

A PREFACE—WHERE AND WHY THIS VOLUME?

If you have stayed with me through Volume I, you are probably aware of how important it is to look to the foundations of our beliefs in order to understand WHY we believe WHAT we believe—and WHY we behave as we DO. Philosophers of ethics would like to tell us HOW to behave. Our emphasis has been directed primarily on why we may behave as we do.  As we look at how we might construct our identities, some of us may become more introspective in terms of living effectively, more socially concerned, more invigorated to live a thoughtfully dynamic life.

Varying researchers have defined self- concept and identity as the same, or with slight differences. We will view them as identical. But there is another concern with identity! Do you like yourself—your identity? This is called self-esteem and is a major concern in mental health. If you have a clear sense of who you are, and you approve of yourself, major and minor negatives can be weathered and you won’t need alcohol, cannabis, heroin, or a gun in your mouth to forget or eliminate your problems. In Volume One we emphasized the importance of having been loved and therefore, being able to love. If you have been so blessed, your identity has a strong foundation. But foundations sometime crack, as the Surfside condo recently did in Miami. But there are sometimes those without the foundation of love who develop strong, even loving, identities. Nelson Mandela comes to mind. Intelligently developing one's identity—utilizing the evidence of psychology, history, and philosophy—can bring a life satisfaction and self-esteem to anyone with a deep commitment to achieving it.

In this volume, we intend to both challenge and broaden why we hold our values. Some of our most strongly held values are often only opinions, with only bits of carefully selected evidence to back them up. In this volume we plan to shake up some beliefs, dig deeper into attitudes, and look at the broader blanket on which they lay. While we may sometimes wander afield, it is with purpose. For example, if you believe yourself to include in your identity a strong national purpose, re-examining the effect of an out-of-control national debt may stimulate your concern—this may then change your values, and possibly stimulate your behavior to change America’s national credit card mythology.

We all have identities, some very strong, and some relatively weak. For example:

›  I am a Texan and a strong evangelical Baptist. I am a proud member of my union, USW. I live and die by the success of my high school football team, the Odessa Bronchos.

›  I am a conservative pro-Trump Republican, I absolutely refuse to take a Covid-19 vaccination. I am free—and will protect my freedom with any means at my disposal.

›  I graduated from the University of Notre Dame. I am a very strong Catholic and would never use contraceptives or have an abortion. I love my work with Microsoft.

›  I’m from California, but haven’t been back there for ten years. I just follow the big waves in Hawaii, Australia, Portugal, or wherever I can find them. I’m a big kahuna around the Pipeline.

›  I am so blessed that I was loved and nurtured by my parents, that is why I am so content with my nursing career.

›  I’m a Blood. My dad was a Blood. We are the best and toughest gang in LA. I have killed three Crips and somebody else, but the police never pinned them on me. My only prison time was for selling crack. I’m tough and smart.

Prejudicial identities may mark us—sometimes helping, sometimes hurting. Germans work hard. Haitians are lazy. Chinese are smart. Irish are friendly—or drunk!

While skiing in France some years ago I saw a T-shirt on a girl that illustrated some possible ethnic prejudices—or identities. On the front of the shirt it said:

Heaven is:

Where the skiing is French,

The policemen are British,

The mechanics are German,

The lovers are Italian—

—-And, it’s all organized by the Swiss.

On the back of the shirt was written:

Hell is:

Where the skiing is British,

The policemen are German,

The mechanics are French,

The lovers are Swiss.

—And it’s all organized by the Italians.

Our identities may help or harm us in life. The self-styled macho tough guy may find it difficult to keep a relationship with an intelligent woman, and may find himself in jail because of abusive behavior.

Identities that are national can have strong historical effects. The Islamic identity if Afghanistan was extremely important in fighting off both the Russians and the Americans during the last 50 years. As Rome matured and the Roman military was composed of mercenaries, the Roman identity that built the nation decayed and the nation died. The Crusaders, fired by their Christian identity, fought the Muslims for 300 years, and the passion of the Islamic identities held the Holy Land. National, religious, educational, and geographical identities are only a part of what we are and how we will act.

The recent pro-Trump identity has played havoc in America, giving many an identity that often overflowed the cup of conscience. But it cloaked many in a shroud of self-esteem. So, we will soon look a bit deeper into the demands and demeanor of the Donald to glimpse how identities may be constructed, psychologically and logically. We may then better understand how our values can be formed, shaped and manipulated to achieve our own ends or the others who may be pulling our strings. A recent Pew poll strongly indicated that many anti-Trump voters wouldn’t even consider dating a pro-Trump person. This was especially true of women.

It isn’t Trump per se, but what he has come to represent—reactionary ideas, anti-minority, anti-abortion, anti-equalitarianism, and other ideas that the equalitarian liberals find essential. And, we find more equalitarian thinking among the educated adults.

Many Republicans followed Trump’s call for freedom and refused vaccinations. In July of 2021, four states with Republican governors, and one with a Democratic governor, led the nation with over 1600 new Covid cases per day. One might wonder if the Trump-Republican anti-vaccination, anti-mask, anti-social distancing ideas killed off some of its base members and might have turned others against the party after they followed the flag, but then caught the bug.

SECTION I   DEVELOPING OUR IDENTITIES

Our identities, as our values, begin with our genetics and epigenetics, then form as our intrauterine, then post-birth environments form and re-form us.

As mentioned several times previously, our genes, and the epigenetic changes that change how and whether they operate, decimate the theory of John Locke’s tabula rasa theory. But the specter of that theory has survived through Freud, through the many concepts of psychological therapies, and is thoroughly understood by the parenting populace. The problem is that while psychological researchers generally recognize the importance of nature and often give it a 50% chance of determining our behaviors and our lives, we find it difficult, or impossible, to comprehend fully! So we generally concentrate on nurture. Are we missing half of the book of life?

CHAPTER 1   NATURE AND NURTURE

As discussed in Volume One, we are born with genetic and epigenetic propensities. They may be toward: violence, loving altruism, the ability to learn (IQ), mental or physical illnesses, drug use, or any number of such tendencies. Some of us are afflicted with injuries at birth, such as cerebral palsies that can affect our physical and mental abilities.

NATURE

Our DNA can give us specific traits, like eye color and ear shape. It may give us potentials, like how tall or smart we might be. But our environment can limit or enhance those potentials. Proper nutrition, exercise and sunlight may enhance our growth potentials. Effective educations at school and home can enhance our academic acumen. But there may be other genetic factors, such as the need to protect one’s property, the need to protect one’s children, toward the use of physical power—instincts that are probably genetic, but are denied by many. After all, if we are made in the Image of God, how could we have instincts. It will probably take many years before scientists can separate genetic from epigenetic tendencies and behaviors. Stay tuned!

We probably shouldn't leave this DNA mention without taking a casual look at our distant ancestors. As you know, Lewis Leakey spent his life searching for our earliest ancestors.

Hans Reck, a German, discovered a somewhat modern skeleton in Olduvai Gorge in 1913. It was dated as from a half-million years ago. In 1948 the Leakey's discovered an 18 million year-old fossil called Proconsul. Tt was a small ape. Then in 1959, Mary Leakey discovered a skull that was 1,750,000 years old. Then in 1960, Jonathan Leakey, the 19-year-old son of Mary and Louis discovered and even more human skull. It had a brain size of 675 cm³. At that time 700 cubic centimeters was considered the standard for a skull to be considered at humanoid (genus Homo). A number of fossils have been discovered that had anthropologists argue whether they were apes or men.

Of course, brain size isn't everything. The Neanderthals had brain sizes averaging 1450 cubic centimeters, with a high, so far found, of a 1,750 cubic centimeter fella. Homo sapiens average about 1,330 cubic centimeters. But if brain size were everything, elephants with 5,000 cubic centimeter brains would be the smartest of us all. But they do say that an elephant never forgets. Maybe that's because he has such a big trunk in which to store his memories!

But we have a few other people in our past. There were offshoots of the ape-men and man-apes that the Leakeys and others found. We have found homo sapiens bones throughout Europe and Asia. Some of those go back over 200,000 years. East Asian finds are about as old. Our ancestry is not a simple straight line from Australopithecus to Neanderthals to us (homo sapiens). Just as there are many species of monkeys, there are many species of "homos." While the evidence now strongly indicates that our branch started in Africa, who knows for sure? The Neanderthals that lived throughout Europe and Asia, did not seem to have originated there. While Europeans and East Asians average about 2% Neanderthal DNA (ranging from 1 to 4%), Africans are now found to have about 0.3%. It appears that after developing elsewhere, some went south the mingle. Until recently, we didn’t believe that Africans had any Neanderthal DNA. Both homo neaderthalensis and homo sapiens interbred with others from the genus homo during the 400,000 or so years that they roamed the Eastern Hemisphere. The thinking is that they may have bred themselves into extinction—melding into the other species they found. Lots of breeding can be done in a few hundred thousand years!

Today only about 7% of our homo sapiens DNA is specifically homo sapiens. So, if sometimes you feel like a tiger, and other times make an ass of yourself, the cause is undoubtedly somewhere in that other 93%.

Usually our family and the environment in which we were raised are critical to our identities. If we escape through friends, schooling or employment, it may move us up or down the social class ladder and change our identities.

NURTURE

Your physical, emotional, economic, academic, and social environment can increase your genetic potentials. Of course, they can also handicap them. Let’s take a hypothetical example. Assume that we have several absolutely identical, genetically and epigenetically, babies. I guess they would have to be clones!

Raised by a single concerned mother in a government subsidized project in a New Your ghetto,

Raised by a single drug addicted mother in a government subsidized project in a New Your ghetto,

Raised by a European nanny, because the parents were often absent because of their high-level government jobs. But from age 6, attended the finest private boarding schools,

Raised by two teachers, an elementary school and a high school educators. For its first five years it was attended to by its maternal grandmother until 4 PM when its parents returned from work. They were together every weekend,

Spent the first year with one, then the other, parent—who were paid by the government to bond with the child, then at age one was in kindergarten from 8 to 4 until the parents finished work (a childhood common in many European countries),

Raised by one stay-at-home parent in a small midwestern farm town.

Do you think that these six children, who started genetically equal will have equal identities at 10, 18, or 35?

Do nature and nurture count equally? Is it 50-50? We can never know for certain. In on person the genetic make up may overwhelm the environment. Edison, Napoleon, Helen Keller, Lincoln and Henry Ford might be examples. In other cases, the environment might be controlling. John Kennedy, George W. Bush, Billy Jean King, Basher al-Assad, and Barack Obama might be examples.

Societies, like most people, try to fix the problem after it happens, rather than trying to prevent them. Fixing a Hitler, an Assad, or a Manson is many years too late,

Your identity, like your mind, has conscious and unconscious aspects

You know, or assume, your place in your family and in your job. Maybe your identity over- or under-estimates your likeability or your attractiveness. Maybe your religiosity is important. Maybe you have heard of your country’s national debt, but you think that it is somebody else’s problem. Perhaps your group identity seeks equality of your religious, ethnic, or economic views, but you learned in school that the country was founded on the principle of liberty, and you know that liberty and equality are often antithetical ideals. Maybe you want to drive on better roads and over sounder bridges, but you don’t want to pay higher gas taxes.

We may have heard of the dire projection of not paying enough taxes or not having a standing army, or adequate pensions—but it’s not my worry!

But there are consequences to all of our actions